John McGEE

  General Notes:

" Born in 1795 in eastern Tennessee (according to census record of 1850; according to his son, Daniel, John was born in Georgia); moved into Madison Co., Miss. Terr. (now Ala.), prior to 1813. Served as a private soldier in the 16th (Burris') Regt. of Mississippi Volunteers, mustered in from Madison Co. in 1813 for service under General Jackson in his Gulf Coast campaign against the British and Creek Indians (1813-1815). The Alabama records further indicate that a John McGee, of Lauderdale Co., was commissioned a captain in the 16th Regt. of Alabama Militia in 1822. Since these two events of military service occurred in the same general area of northwest Alabama, within the same regiment (Alabama was formed from Miss. Terr. in 1819), it appears logical to assume that the John Megee who served as a private during the War of 1812 might well have been the same John McGee who was later elected to command one of the companies of the same regiment in 1822. Admittedly we have no genealogical proof of this, but the circumstantial evidence so indicates.
In any event, John Megee must have returned to northern Alabama or southern Tennessee after the war ended in 1815. He was married about 1820 to Ritta White, a girl "born and raised in Tennessee." Unfortunately we have no census records for 1820 covering that area, so are unable to pinpoint his exact location during this period of his life
Shortly after the Creek Indians ceded their lands lying west of the Tombigbee River, in what is now Monroe Co., Miss., we find John Megee and his young wife making a new home in that region. According to the Monroe Co. tax lists, John was present in that county during 1823, 1824, and 1825. His son Daniel was born there in 1823.
John returned to Tennessee before 1827, since his second son, William C., was born there during that year. He remained in Tennessee (exact location not determined) until 1837, as attested by the census records listing the birthplaces of his children. By 1838 he had returned to Mississippi and the census record of 1850 locates him definitely in Marshall Co. His three eldest sons were by then married with separate household
John and his family migrated to northern Arkansas (now Baxter Co.) to join his married sons, William and Samuel Jackson, after 1850. The Arkansas Census of 1860 lists his widow, Ritta, as head of a household. According to family tradition, John died in Marion Co., Ark., abt. 1858Ritata died there before 1870. Their graves have not been located at this writing.
John's record indicates the restless, energetic nature common to the migrant pioneer farmers of his time. As soon as the Cherokees, the Creeks, the Choctaws, and the Chickasaws had ceded their lands east of the Mississippi River, John Megee was leaning against the, searching for better land--or better hunting. What a story his old flintlock rifle might tell: "Old John," as he is known to his descendants, lived an adventurous life."

  Noted events in his life were:

• Residence, Bef 1827, , , Tennessee, United States. ²

• Residence, Abt 1838, , , Mississippi, United States. ³

• Residence, After 1850, , Baxter County, Arkansas, United States. ³

John married Ritta WHITE about 1820. (Ritta WHITE was born in 1800 in , , Tennessee, United States and died in 1865 in , Marion County, Arkansas, United States.)